Blind White Light
by The Dark Knight's Revenge
Summary: Peter Parker meets a girl who gets massive nosebleeds and glimpses of the future, making her an ideal acquisition for the Avengers when it's obvious something big is on the horizon. Plus it's nice having someone his age to talk to, who also happens to be a girl.


Peter Parker hummed to himself and adjusted the volume on his headphones, bopping out just a little to his morning tunes while he waited for his Starbucks order. It was his usual, half-caf latte with cinnamon and tons of whip cream. Enough sugar to keep him going all day, but not too much caffeine that he was bouncing off the walls.

Something prickled at the back of his neck. He looked around. Nothing seemed amiss, so why was he getting the Spidey sense?

"Shit!" Someone shoved past, reaching for the napkins on the counter in front of him. A girl with the heaviest nosebleed he'd ever seen. Blood dripped over her hands and onto her shirt. He ripped off his headphones.

"Hey, are you okay?" Her hands were shaking as she grabbed a wad of napkins and tried to stem the flood from her nose. Other patrons were watching her in alarm.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I gotta get out of here." She said, shoving back past him and disappearing out the door.

"Is she okay?" Peter asked the lady behind him. She shrugged in reply.

"Plain mocha for Jenny and the usual for Peter?" The barista asked, looking around.

"Is she the one with the nosebleed?" Peter asked. "I'll run it to her. She's outside trying to fix it."

"'Kay." The barista said, shoving it towards him without blinking an eye.

Peter delicately balanced both drinks, some more napkins, plus his headphones, and escaped the crowded Starbucks. His neck still prickled uncomfortably. He looked left, then right, and decided to look around the corner. There was a secluded alleyway that seemed to give him the right vibes.

As he turned the corner, Peter could see an outstretched leg that looked familiar. The girl was slumped against the alley wall, mopping at her face.

"Hey, um, I got your drink?" Peter said, crouching down. Her face was white against the bloody napkin and her eyes seemed unfocused. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She repeated, sounding like she was almost out of breath. "This happens sometimes." She tossed the soaked napkin she was holding to her face and accepted a fresh one. The blood was starting to stop.

"I'm Peter. Peter Parker. I go to school up here, just stopping for my sugar and caffeine fix and I-"

He was cut off by the return of the torrential nosebleed, causing the girl in front of him to double over and dry heave into the napkin. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Hey, whoa whoa... Do I need to call 911?" He asked. She shook her head and continued to cover her eyes. Peter's Spidey sense tingled stronger than ever.

"The fallen will return, what's broken becomes whole..." She muttered.

"What? What was that?" Peter asked. He reached out to touch her arm, but she slumped back on the wall, blinking dazedly.

"What happened?" She asked faintly. Peter handed her another napkin to mop at her face.

"I was hoping you'd tell me." He said sheepishly.

"Hang on..." She squinted at him. "I know you."

"You... do?" Peter feigned nonchalance and took a sip of his latte. "Did we go to school together?"

"No... I just..." Her brow furrowed and she shook her head. "Nothing."

"Does that nosebleed thing happen often?" He asked. His spider sense wasn't tingling anymore but he definitely felt on edge.

"It's only my second one. It's like a faucet turns on in my face and then I see... things."

"Good things or bad things?"

She shrugged and spat into another clean napkin, scrubbing at her face.

"You're Jenny, right? I'm-"

"Peter." She finished.

"How did you..."

"Your cup." She pointed at his latte, which had the barista's scrawl facing right towards her.

"Right, um. Yeah. I'm... um, Peter." He finished, taking a swig of his latte to cover his embarrassment.

Jenny finished mopping her face and took a drink of her mocha.

"It's so weird, you know, I feel like when this happens I'm seeing a glimpse of something in the future. Is that weird? That probably sounds crazy."

"I've seen a lot of weird stuff, that's not really that bad." Peter said. "If you want, I can take you some place to get looked at. Not by doctors, but well... I guess some of them are doctors. But doctors that see weird all the time."

"What, you going to take me to a loony bin? Stark Enterprises? Like I'd go anywhere with a stranger."

"I mean, I could take you to Stark Enterprises if you want to. I'm an intern there. But I guess that sounds nuts when you put it like that. I'm sorry."

"You work at Stark Enterprises?" Jenny blinked at him.

"Um, yeah. I intern in their photography and media department. It's a lot of grunt work but I'm not complaining."

"That's crazy." She mumbled. Suddenly, a stream of red began to trickle out of her nose.

"Shit!" She said weakly, trying to stem the flow with the napkins.

"I'll get more!" Peter said, jogging away. His Spidey sense was back, stronger than before. He darted into Starbucks and back quicker than a flash. Jenny was breathing hard, eyes shut. He pushed the napkins into her lap, and she raised a trembling hand to her nose without opening her eyes.

"Are your eyes okay?" Peter noticed that bright light was seeping out from underneath her eyelids. She couldn't be human, he had to call Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, someone.

"The fallen will return, what's broken becomes whole, what's lost will be found, deep within the soul..." Jenny wheezed, barely sounding like herself.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, what am I going to do?" Peter tried to reach out and tap her, but she trembled harder. "Jenny?"

Her eyes opened, revealing a blazing light. Peter was bowled over by the force of it. She was like an exploding star inside a person. No way was she normal.

He scrambled in his pocket for his cell phone, fingers finding Tony Stark's number by memory.

_"This is Tony Stark. Leave a message." _

_"_Tony! This is Pete! I, uh, found something that's real weird, Mr. Stark. Real weird. Call me!"

No sooner had he brought the phone down from his ear, the light shut off in Jenny's eyes and she slumped over, unmoving except for a slow drop of blood down her chin.

"Oh no, oh no." Peter caught her before she slid all the way to the asphalt. His heart was hammering in his chest, spider senses going absolutely nuts. He had to do something, quickly.

"Taxi!" He yelled, running out into the street and waving his arms. A yellow cab screeched to a halt and Peter ran back to the alleyway.

"Stark Tower!" He said to the cabby, dumping Jenny's limp body unceremoniously in the seat and sliding in. The cabby looked at him like he was nuts.

"I know what it looks like. I just need to get to Tony Stark."

"Sure you do." The cabby snorted. But he peeled away from the curb all the same. Peter grabbed Jenny's limp form as she lolled around with the cab's movements. He fastened the middle belt around her waist to keep her from flying across the seat. She wasn't bleeding anymore, the dribble from her nose having ceased as soon as the light in her eyes left.

"_The fallen will return, what's broken becomes whole, what's lost will be found, deep within the soul.._." Peter repeated to himself. "_That sounds ominous._"

He snuck a long look at the unconscious woman beside him. Freckles dusted her nose and cheeks, and her dark blonde hair was up in a neat ponytail. She'd clearly had some sort of supernatural vision, which he didn't know the first thing about. He'd take her to Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark, who would see what was the matter. He was no genius, but he didn't think what he'd seen in the alleyway was normal. Far from it.

_"Mr. Stark is gonna love this."_ Peter thought sadly as they merged into traffic. Then, "_Damn... My latte." _


End file.
